Not One of Us
by LizzyLovesPink
Summary: After the Great War devastates Europe, Lithuania finds himself in need of work. His friend England ships him across the ocean to meet a super egocentric yet rich nation named America. Despite a rough start, both Lithuania and America find themselves growing to care for each other. Historical nations, human names used. AmericaxLithuania, inspired by Lithuania's Outsourcing Series.


Everything had somehow managed to go horribly, horribly wrong. The turn of the century was, for him at least, good. Sure, there was that whole Great War thing, but it soon ended and everything was fine. Until Ivan kicked all of his countries out of his Empire, cutting them off financially. Then Toris got into a war with Feliks, then Ivan. And then, he became bankrupt in every meaning of the word.

He had become desperate, he knew that. There was no more opportunity left for him in Europe, but where could he go? He could feel the desperation of his people inside of him, asking him what to do about their sudden poverty.

And then, it hit him. An old friend of Ivan's who had experience with such things, and was still slightly rich despite the devastation of the Great War, and even still had an Empire. He just had to help him, and if he didn't, well, the nation of Lithuania would cease to exist, now wouldn't it?

So on one extremely rainy evening, Toris urgently knocked on Arthur's front door, tightly clutching his shoulder, which wasn't wounded, but there was a bad hole in his coat that was exposing his skin to the elements. His whole outfit was a mess; it was an ill-fitting, stained uniform from the Great War that was originally white and pressed with gold epaulets, the gold was now all gone and the uniform was nearly crimson and brown. A heavy tattered brown coat was thrown over it, and a ragged brown cap and fingerless gloves completed his look. His hair was tangled as well. "P-please tell me you're home..." He worried just as Arthur opened the door and almost shut it again.

"Is that really you, Toris? Bloody hell, you look awful. Your clothes are bloody, your hair is snared, and your breath smells like something crawled into it and died a century ago," He shook his head bluntly, Toris' current appearance being too awful to be polite about. He instantly blushed and covered up his mouth in embarrassment.

"Uh, toothpaste is really expensive..." He mumbled behind his hand, speaking in Latin, a luxurious language he was amazed he still possessed the knowledge of speaking. He only hoped Arthur still remembered how to speak it. "Oh, but I'm not here to kill the flies in your house, I'm here to request some money to sail over to the United States to find some work and improve my economy," He explained in a serious tone, still in Latin. He stood up straighter since he felt his citizens' spirits starting to rise within him; they liked that idea! However, Arthur gave Toris a confused look, so he quickly asked if he could speak Latin.

"Yes, I can still speak it," Arthur answered after a long moment of silence. "One thing is for sure, however, you won't be getting any work anywhere looking and smelling the way we do. Come inside and clean up first," He invited Toris inside his house, and he smiled and hurried inside, accidentally bringing mud inside, making him blush even more in embarrassment. "Never mind that, I'll just have someone clean it up later."

Arthur's manor used to indeed be a manor back in his heyday, but many nations were lost in the war, so his manor now resembled a small countryside cottage. He led Toris into the living room and smiled at the two nations sitting in there.

"Who wants to help Toris here with his bath?" Arthur asked nicely in English, but Toris shook his head.

"No, I can take care of it myself. I don't want to be a burden!" He declined just as Michelle, a tanned island nation, stood up and bowed to Arthur.

"I'll run the water for him!" She and her brother Matthew ran noisily up the stairs to the bathroom.

"After you bathe, you will need some clothes. You can have some of my older ones...what is your size?" Arthur asked, switching back to Latin as they themselves walked up the stairs.

"My size? Ummm...a Medium, I think?" Toris never knew what clothing size he wore back in Imperial Russia since all of their clothes came handmade, in their own personal sizes and styles. How Ivan got all their sizes was left unquestioned, probably for the better. The important thing was that sizes were unimportant back then. Arthur nodded and went into his bedroom just as Michelle called for Toris, telling him his bath was ready. Toris was unable to understand her words, of course, but understood their general meaning and hurried into the bathroom, still weak on his wobbly legs.

Toris shut the door to the bathroom and quickly peeled off his ratty old coat, which he had literally scavenged from a garbage heap somewhere, then pulled off his fingerless gloves. His hands were red and numb. Next came the hat, letting his shoulder-length, tangled brown hair fall out to his shirt collar, then lastly came his bloody Russian Imperial Army uniform. He had worn it for the last few years of Ivan's reign, and almost felt sad taking it off, as it had seen many good times.

He got into the bathwater afterwards and found it incredibly easy to simply sink into it. The water was scalding hot and nearly burned his skin, but to someone who felt like he hadn't taken a bath in nearly a decade, it was welcome-it was truly heaven.

Of course, he didn't want to linger in the tub too long in case someone else needed to use the bathroom and it was in use, a predicament he found himself in too often, so he carefully scrubbed his tangled hair with his fingers, watching almost a decade of betrayal, starvation, bloodshed, and simple filth wash away into the warm water. He then did the same to the rest of his body, almost regretting his decision to not linger, since the warm water was definitely calling out to him to stay longer.

After Toris finished his bath, he finally got out and wrapped a towel around himself, darting across the hallway into what he hoped was Arthur's room so nobody would accidentally see him in his towel, and found himself in the right room. Laid out on the bed was the most amazing outfit Toris had ever seen, and quietly gasped to himself as he put it on.

It was a standard brown suit for the time, yet it looked perfectly tailored for him, which was quite a feat due to his height. He finished getting dressed by fluffing out his hair and pulling on the brown newsboy cap by staring into the room. "Wow, is this really me?" He touched his own reflection in awe. "I haven't seen myself in so long...I haven't looked so good in so long..." He then ran back downstairs to show Arthur his transformed look.

The Brit was sitting in the parlor reading a book when the Lithuanian arrived, and he didn't even look up when he approached him. "I see my clothes fit you rather nicely," Toris simply nodded. "Actually, when I got those, they were rather big on me. I always meant to send them back to the tailor's but never got around to it. I suppose now I am glad I didn't,"

"Me too. They were perfectly made for me!" Toris grinned for the first time that night, twirling around. He then remembered something suddenly and stopped spinning. "Are you coming with me? I might need an English translator?"

Arthur closed his book. "Where are you going, exactly?"

"New York City! I heard there were lots of job opportunities for me there!" Toris answered immediately with a smile. Some of his citizens also perked up at this idea in his body somewhere, so he knew he made the right choice.

Arthur, on the other hand, did not agree and promptly choked on his tea. "New York City?! Are you joking?" He demanded.

"Is that wrong?" Toris asked in a nervous tone. "I heard lots of people live there!"

"Yes, natives! An immigrant like you, in a big city like that in America? My big sister went over there several years ago looking for a job, just like you. She was extremely bankrupt and starving to boot. He simply threw her in this nasty apartment complex called a tenement. You're Lithuanian! Who knows what he'll do to you?!"

"'He?' Who's 'he'?" Toris asked in a nervous tone.

"You'll see,"

"So I'm going to New York City by myself?"

"Relax, I never said such a thing. I just wanted you to know what you're getting yourself into. Let me just get my bags," He then called upstairs in English for someone bring his luggage, and sure enough, a young nation Toris had never seen before came running down the stairs holding two big suitcases, her Star of David necklace bouncing up and down with every step she took. Toris stared at it with fascination. "Thank you, love," Arthur smiled at her, then slipped on his own coat and hat. "Now then, shall we get going?" He picked up his bags and gestured at the doorway, and Toris nodded eagerly and followed after him, awaiting his adventure in New York City.  
############

Toris was very unaccustomed to sea-travel, so the trip on the boat had been a very miserable and nauseating one. Not to mention long, for both of them, but sure enough, they arrived in New York City.

Arthur seemed unimpressed by the city, obviously having been there several times, but Toris' eyes lit up, never having seen such sights before. "Oh, wow! This place is amazing! Look how huge it is! Vilnius never looked this grand! Oh, when I get money, I should redesign my place to match this one!" He started to run off, but Arthur pulled him back by tugging on his jacket.

"You are not going off by yourself. Not only can you barely speak even a lick of English, but you have no idea how things work here in America, let along New York City. Stay next to me at all times," He scolded, and Toris complied, walking close behind him. For the most part, his hat was pulled down over his eyes, but whenever he saw something impressive, which was quite often, he'd pull his hat back up to look at it.

His most favorite part of the city were the grey skyscrapers, which literally did seem to scrape and sweep at the sky, and simply looking at them from down on the ground made him dizzy.

Aside from the skyscrapers, most of the city was very small and cramped, with tiny apartment buildings being squeezed into even tinier alleyways and some even having small stores underneath them. Toris felt sorry for whoever lived in those apartments; their air quality must've been awful.

After a few minutes of simply walking, Toris spoke up again. "Where does he live? This man you talk so much about?"

"He lives not to far away from here, but not in one of these apartments. He thinks he's too good for them, and he'd be right. They're only for immigrants," Arthur said with a trace of bitterness to his tone. "Take a good look at them, he might force you into one,"

Toris nodded in understanding and lifted up the brim of his hat again to look at the tenements, which were giant, dark green rusted buildings that stacked six or seven stories high. Most were crooked, and they all seemed to be connected by black iron stairs. Several families were sitting outside on those stairs, and one open window brought the wafting smell of borscht to his nose, which immediately made him feel homesick. Another window brought the drifting sound of someone practicing a slow polka on an accordion, which reminded him of Feliks. He bit his lip. A few children were outside playing with a ball, five girls and three boys. Toris waved to them nicely, but they simply stared at his gesture in confusion. He looked away and pulled down the brim of his cap again.

They continued to walk in silence for what seemed like forever, and Toris watched as the buildings gradually turned smaller and smaller until there were none left, just miles and miles of lush green foliage. Here, Arthur came to a complete and sudden stop, which made Toris run into him. He lifted his cap from his eyes. "Why'd you stop? Are we there-"

He was cut off by the most amazing sight he had ever seen, and he had seen plenty of amazing sights in his life. It was a mansion cast entirely in shades of white and gold, not unlike Ivan's old mansion. White roman columns held up the house's second-floor balcony, and also the entire second floor, it seemed. Massive windows formed most of the house's structure, and stretched from the ground to the second floor. Around the front and sides of the house was a very impressive garden, even fancier than the one in Imperial Russia. Even Toris had a hard time naming even half of the fragrant blooms surrounding him.

Two small rosebushes were clustered around the front door, which was painted a heavenly white color and had several small windows arranged into a half-sun-ray pattern on the top.

"He lives here?" Toris barely managed, still in a state of absolute awe. Arthur just nodded and knocked loudly on the front door. After a few seconds, a man opened the door. He was dressed in a very formal black suit and had glasses and blond hair.

"Hello Alfred. This is Lithuania, also known as Toris." Arthur introduced in English to the man named Alfred, pointing to Toris, who nicely waved. Alfred stared at Toris for a very long time before suddenly slamming the door shut in their faces.

"No! I thought he could help!" Toris suddenly choked out, looking ready to cry. To think, he had come so close, only to get rejected! It was truly humiliating. "You promised he could help!"

"I never promised anything, actually. However, I do not want to carry your sea-sick arse back across the Atlantic Ocean, not to mention, I actually do care about your economy. Believe it or not, I've gone through similar situations that I had to deal with alone, and it is awful. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Arthur pulled open the door roughly. "Allow me to deal with this," He stormed inside the house, and in curiosity, Toris peeked in from the doorframe to see what was going on, only to stifle a giggle when he saw Arthur pulling on Alfred's ear, obviously scolding him over something in English.

After a minute, he let go of Alfred's ear and motioned for Toris to come in, which he did so, nervously. "Alfred, this is Toris. He's a friend of mine and has become extremely poor, so I was wondering if you could take him in for me and let him work for you to improve his economy," He said in English, and even though Alfred rolled his eyes, he still smiled.

"Alright, I love the nation of Lithuania! I can even find it on the map!" He announced, pulling out a map of the United States.

"That's a map of you!" Arthur scolded, but to both of their surprise, Toris started to giggle.

"You're really funny, I like you!" He praised. Granted, he didn't really know what was going on, but that wasn't a map of Europe, and that sole fact was enough to crack him up.

"By the way, he's afraid of the dark," Arthur whispered to Toris in Latin, pointing to Alfred, which just made Toris giggle harder.

"I think we're going to be best friends!" He smiled, before suddenly gasping. He didn't speak a word of English, nor could he understand it. How would he work for this man, and communicate his needs to him properly? As if on cue, his stomach let out a growl, a bad enough hunger pang to make him clutch his stomach and fall to his knees.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked in a nervous tone, glancing at Alfred. "He's hungry, go get him something to eat!"

"I don't have any sauerkraut," Alfred shrugged, making Arthur snort in disgust.

"Honestly," He dragged Alfred into the kitchen, then sat Toris down on the couch. "Stay here, I'll bring something out to you in a few minutes, alright?" Toris nodded, and once the two left, he decided to look around the room and take in his surroundings.

One side of the parlor was completely taken up by a giant bay window, allowing the late summer sunshine to leak in, dousing the room in its warm glow. Directly across from the window was a large glass cabinet filled with polished china plates, with the names and icons of all forty-eight states. A giant fern plant was placed on top of that. The walls were painted a bright violet, but Toris couldn't make out what material they were made of, and the floors were polished oak wood. The couch came with a matching loveseat and chair, all in a blinding white and unreasonably squishy. On the walls were also a bunch of golden records and names of what Toris would later learn to be really famous musicians; jazz and swing musicians.

Tucked in one corner of the room was a golden record-player, but when he looked closer, no record was currently on it, and in another corner was a sleek bronze telephone.

Alfred and Arthur soon came back into the room, Alfred holding a plate with something on it.

"It's a sandwich. It's a dreadfully boring meal, but surely you can eat that, right?" Arthur asked in Latin, and Toris simply nodded and reached his hands out for it, too starved to really care what it was. After being given it, he practically inhaled the entire thing, which was a sandwich made from white bread and some kind of meat he had never tasted before.

Of course, after he ate that whole thing, he felt a sudden thirst, and mimed drinking water from a cup.

"He's thirsty!" Arthur looked at Alfred like he was waiting for him to do something.

"How'd you figure that out?"

"Because I took care of you for several years, I'm used to this,"

Alfred rolled his eyes and came back with a glass of water, which Toris gave him a suspicious look for. "What? What's wrong, this is what you wanted, right?"

"Uhhh..." Toris wasn't sure how to mime boiling water, but he sure as heck wasn't going to put any unboiled water into his body! He looked at Arthur for help. "Did he boil it?" He asked nervously in Latin.

"Oh! He just wants to know if the water is safe to drink," Arthur explained.

"Like, I don't know. I drink it all the time and nothing bad has happened, does that count?" Alfred shrugged, and Toris took the water and immediately drank it down. "It must've,"

After he drank it down, he held out the empty cup and motioned to it, indicating he wanted more, which Alfred obliged, giving him more.

"Pretty thirsty guy," Alfred mused. "I wonder where he keeps it all,"

As Toris drank, he found himself wondering what form of address his new employer wanted. He seemed like a very easy-going guy, so certainly nothing as formal as 'Sir', like 'Sir Ivan'. But it would be rude to just call him casually by his name. Perhaps just Mister would do for now. Before he realized it, he had drunken about ten glasses of water.

"Now, what am I supposed to do with him if he can't even speak English? Not a very good worker if you ask me," Alfred asked Arthur in English, knowing Toris wouldn't understand them despite sitting right in front of them.

"Then teach him. It's easy. Just don't be too hard on him and pay him for his work when he does a good job, thus helping his economy. He won't be here for too long anyway,"

"But he's a-!" Alfred immediately started to protest, only to be cut off by Arthur's scathing glare. "What, are you still upset about your sister?"

"Yes, yes I am! I may not have treated her the best either, I'll admit, but at least I never forced cholera onto her!" Arthur snapped.

"It was her own fault for bringing it!"

"It was your fault for shoving her into those unsanitary tenements! Not to mention you made Yao build your railroads, and you still have lots of Ludwig's, Ivan's, and Feliciano's people living here in those awful tenements. You do not have a good reputation when it comes to immigrants!"

"Alright, alright. I see your point. I'll make sure Toris is welcomed here in my house, as a guest, and as a friend," Alfred smiled with a hand on his heart. "You have my word,"

"Uhhhh...excuse me...?" Toris stood up from the couch, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously. "Uhhh..."

"Yes? What is it?" Arthur asked nicely, switching back into Latin.

"I gotta go piss," He admitted shyly. "I've had to go for a while now but you guys weren't paying attention to me in your argument,"

"Well, I'm not your employer, he is. So tell him!" Arthur pointed to Alfred.

"Tell me what?" He asked.

"He needs to piss," Toris was still shifting his weight from foot to foot with an urgent look on his face.

"Oh, oh! Of course! Follow me!" Alfred took Toris' hand and led him out of the parlor, dragging him through the house. He first dragged him through the kitchen, then out into the garden, which was also filled with a blooming flower garden even more splendid than the first, in Toris' mind. He wondered where Alfred found the time to care for all these flowers, or if he had some help. He then stopped in front of a rickety wooden outhouse, its purpose obvious. "Well, here you go!" Alfred smiled, but Toris' face simply fell at the sight.

"Oh..." Was this honestly what was expected in the city? If that was the case, then why even bother leaving home in the first place? True, Vilnius was no more, Feliks was engaged in a war with him, and Ivan was recently growing more and more aggressive, but overall, it was no different. He could've found work in a factory somewhere in Kaunas.

"Is something wrong?" Alfred asked in a worried tone, forgetting about their language barrier after seeing Toris' distressed face. Toris of course couldn't understand him, and simply walked into the outhouse and slammed shut the door, shivering once he got inside.

"It's freezing in here!" He soon found himself thinking about how unbearable it would be in winter, the exact reason why Ivan never built any for his own Empire, and really hoped Alfred had a backup plan.

Alfred had gone back inside to continue talking to Arthur. "How long is he going to stay here?" He demanded, to which Arthur shrugged.

"As long as it takes for him to fix his economy, which might take a few years. These things take time, you know! But you can help by introducing him to your language and culture," Arthur explained.

"Then I say we start teaching him tonight!" Alfred said excitedly. Arthur shook his head. Toris came back inside. "Hey there Toris, you ready to start learning English?" He asked in an excited tone, making Toris blink.

"I cannot understand what language you are speaking or what you are inquiring of me," Toris responded in very polite Russian. It was then Alfred's turn to blink back in confusion.

"What'd he say?" He asked Arthur, who only shrugged.

"I actually can't speak Russian for my life. I'm sorry." He looked at Toris. "He wanted to teach you English." He said in Latin, and Toris nodded in understanding.

"Okay! Um, how about we start with our names? America." Alfred said, pointing to himself. "England." He pointed to England.

Toris butchered up the names with his strange, thick accent. Alfred and Arthur stared at him in disbelief. "Let's try again. A-me-ri-ca. En-gland."

"Ah-me-li-ka. In-gland." Toris said again. Alfred sighed.

"You're getting slightly better. Now try our human names. Al-fred. Ar-thur."

"Al-fur-ed. Ar-thor."

"Li-thu-a-nia. To-ris."

"Lithuania. Toris."

"Oh sure, he says his own name right!" Alfred groaned. "Hungry." He rubbed his stomach and mimed eating. "Hun-gu-ry."

"Hun-gu-ry. Hungry." He copied.

"Good! Tired." He rubbed his eyes.

"Tired."

"Sleep." He mimed going to sleep.

"Shleep..." He badly slurred.

"Are you drunk?" Alfred asked.

"That might be a hard word for him." Arthur suggested, but then noticed Toris rubbing his eyes aggressively, struggling to stay awake. "Oh, he's tired! He has had a long day, after all."

"I know just the place for him to sleep!" Alfred took Toris' arm and led him down the hallway and up the stairs into a guest room. The room was done up in very tropical blues and greens, but Toris was way too tired to notice. He clumsily fell into bed and was asleep in a few moments. "He's not going to get my bed dirty, is he?" Alfred asked.

"That I cannot promise." Arthur said.

###########

Meanwhile, in the first communist nation in the world...

Natalya moved the porridge around in her bowl. "I'm so sick of this." She angrily stated.

"So sick of what?" Karyoun asked, taking her seat.

"This food. This house. This life."

"All Sir Ivan does is make us work all day while he goes off trying to reclaim his stupid empire!" The Azerbaijanian man complained.

"Not to mention we're forced to eat the same shit every single day. Toris was lucky he won that war." Natalya stood up.

"And where are you going, Sestra?" Ivan asked, walking into the kitchen.

"To work. I'm done eating." She pushed him aside and walked out the door. The next two nations followed, leaving just Ivan and his oldest sister, Katia, in the kitchen.

"Why doesn't this make my nations happy? I treat them very well, much better than I ever did as an empire!" Katia stroked his hair.

"Come on, tell me all about your plans to recapture Turkmenistan and Georgia." She smiled to make him feel better, and he looked up.

"Well, I already put Georgia in the same nation with Armenia and Azerbaijan, so it would be easy to get him back!" Ivan started excitedly.

#############

The next morning, Toris got up at the crack of dawn, a habit he had yet to break leftover from Imperial Russia. After all, he worked the fields back then and one always had to get up early for that job, and a habit one developed for over two hundred years wasn't easy to break. Toris rolled himself right out of bed and straightened his hair, dismayed to find out he fell asleep in his clothes and they had gotten rumbled up and wrinkled in his sleep.

He quietly creeped down the stairs, not wanting to wake up Alfred, hoping he remembered where the kitchen was from the previous day. He luckily did, and quickly ran inside.

The first thing he noticed was just how white everything was. The tiled floor was a blinding white and perfectly spotless, making him feel bad about possibly tracking mud inside even though there was nothing on his shoes. The ceiling was white and sported a giant crystal chandelier, which most people would find overly-extravagant but Toris found comforting, and the walls were painted a perfect spotless white. How did Alfred cook in this kitchen without being worried of spilling something?

The rest of the counters were also a spotless white, and one counter sported a sink, a giant overhead cupboard, and three layers of drawers built into it, making Toris tilt his head in curiosity. Alfred loved saving space, that was for sure, since despite numerous counters lining the walls, as well as a weirdly out-of-place green stove, the center of the room was completely empty.

Toris soon felt his stomach churn from hunger, and eagerly looked around the room to see if breakfast was prepared for him, but to his dismay, he found out it wasn't. Well, no matter. He'd just have to make his own breakfast.

After looking around the room again, he took notice of a small white box with a silver door handle standing next to the stove, and wondered what it was. Was it a pantry? Whatever it was, it was bound to have food in it. Without any further thoughts, he dashed over to it, pulling it open rather easily and instantly getting blasted with a rush of cold air.

"It's an ice-box!" He mused to himself, wondering what Alfred like to eat. Regardless, his eyes widened in awe as he stared at everything available to eat in the fridge. "And it's so full!" He didn't think he had ever seen so much food before in his entire life, even when he was prosperous. "But what can I eat...?" He reached into the fridge and grabbed the first thing he found, which was a giant bottle of milk, almost entirely full. He pulled the top off and instantly started chugging it down, some drops trailing down his chin. After it was all gone, he burped and did the same thing to a bottle of orange juice, placing that empty bottle next to the milk bottle. Next came an entire bowl of cold noodles, which he practically had to inhale anyway to get them to slip down his throat and not stick to his esophagus. After finding nothing else of interest in the ice-box, he walked over to a large door next to the back-door leading to the gardens and opened it, finding it a pantry of sorts. Inside was rice, noodles, and cereal. Toris grabbed one box of cereal and popped it open, pouring some of it into his mouth, only to spit some out. "Blech! It's so dry and tasteless! Is it stale?" He scoured the box for a sell-by date, but realized he couldn't read it anyway, so he tossed it aside. He was in the middle of trying to pull open a bag of rice when Alfred stormed into the room, woken up by the noise and very clearly upset at Toris destroying his food supply.

"What the hell are you doing? You woke me up! And why are you making such a mess! Do you not know how to eat either?" He glared, and Toris shivered and accidentally pulled open the bag of rice in half, spraying rice kernels all over the spotless floor. They blended in.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Alfred! I don't know what came over me, I was just hungry and when I saw all the food here, I lost control of myself! Please forgive me!" He hastily apologized in rapid Russian, bowing his head. Alfred simply stared at him.

"...What? You know what, never mind. Clean that up," He pointed to the rice and made a sweeping gesture with his arms, and Toris nodded in understanding. He then looked around for a broom, only to shrug in confusion. "Here's my cleaning supplies," He led Toris a bit deeper into the pantry and showed him a mop, broom, dustpan, bucket, and something else Toris had never seen before: a giant orange stick with a bag on it. He really hoped he got a chance to use that! "Now clean that rice up," He then left the room and sat down on his couch, holding his forehead. Toris surely was a lot more trouble than he was worth, but there was something about his innocent curiosity that intrigued Alfred as well. If he just turned him out onto the street, he'd feel bad.

Toris got the broom and dustpan out and started to slowly sweep the mess up, not wanting to miss a single rice kernel. He wasn't the best of cleaners, having never had to do his own work before, so he was unsteady with the broom and very wobbly on his feet. He even dropped the broom into the pile he swept, making the rice scatter and having to clean it all up again. "Oh dear..." He sighed. If he wasn't more helpful, Alfred would throw him out, and he most certainly didn't want that!

As Toris was cleaning, Alfred stood up and pulled out a certain music record he was meaning to play for a while but never really had an opportunity to. He softly placed it on the record player and pulled the needle on, and soon the rapid beat of swinging jazz filled his house, making him grin. He sure did love jazz music, and within time, Toris would learn to love it too. He walked into the kitchen, finding Toris still in the middle of sweeping.

"Hey, do you know this song?" He asked happily, grabbing Toris's hands and quickly doing a swing dance with him in time to the music, the basic 'rock rock' step.

"Huh?" Toris asked in confusion, blushing from how close Alfred was to him. And he had never done this type of dance before in Imperial Russia!

"It's swing-dancing," Alfred explained, pulling Toris' arm over his head and rapidly spinning him around and then pulling him close to his body, only to just as quickly push him away in time to the song. "It's super fast and fun!"

"O-oh-!" Toris said simply, allowing Alfred to spin and twist him all around, clearly not caring if he knew the steps or not-he just wanted a partner.

Soon the crazy-fast jazz song ended, and Alfred finished the dance with Toris just barely holding onto his hand, being pulled away by the song's tempo. Alfred was breathing heavily, but had a huge smile on his face. "It's a great way to lose weight!" He grinned, and even though Toris couldn't understand him, his happiness was really infectious, so he gave him a big grin of his own back. "Here, let me help you," He then offered, getting on his knees and holding out the dustpan for Toris, who then swept the rice into it. Alfred tossed the mess into the dustbin.

Arthur then came downstairs, looking even angrier than Alfred did earlier. "What was all that noise? Sounded like a parade of drunken elephants in here! Can't a man sleep in peace?!" He demanded, holding his head.

"Hungover much...?" Toris whispered under his breath in Lithuanian.

"Relax, the two of us were having fun swing-dancing! Weren't we?" Alfred grinned at Toris, who gave him an awkward smile back.

"Never mind. Is breakfast ready? I cannot function without it," Arthur asked, but Alfred shook his head.

"Nobody's made any," He made a point to glare at Toris, which made him blush. Was it his job to prepare breakfast?!

"He loves his coffee in the mornings. The best way to win him over is with coffee, bacon, and oatmeal in the morning," Arthur explained to Toris in Latin, whose mouth started to water.

"Ah, bacon...I haven't had that for years..." He drooled.

"Okay, so you know that one...can you make coffee?"

"Oh, no. I know what it is, of course, but we never drank it back in the Empire. Sir Ivan always said it was really luxurious, even for us, so we always drank either tea or hot chocolate. Would either of those work?" Toris asked, but his face fell when Arthur shook his head.

"It's coffee or it's nothing," He then walked over the cupboard and pulled out two kettles, then poured some boiling water into the bigger one-from the sink! Toris let out a loud gasp and rushed over, pushing Arthur out of the way and turning the levers on the tap, watching in amazement as both cold and hot water instantly came out with ease.

"You're such a troublemaker," Alfred laughed.

"I was just so amazed by your sink! It gives you both hot and cold water like magic!" Toris said in awe, and once Arthur translated, Alfred laughed again.

"You're really that fascinated by my sink, huh? Surely you must've seen one before," Alfred said.

"We never had running water in Imperial Russia. We always gathered water from a nearby river to drink and cook, and heated it up on the stove to boil it. We did have a bathtub, but we had to manually pour water into it," Toris explained, and Arthur translated.

"Wow, is Ivan really that behind the times in EVERYTHING?! How did he ever run an empire?" Alfred laughed.

"I know, his manor always smelled so foul on the outside. I tried my best to visit infrequently." Arthur stated.

"We couldn't help having a cesspit, where else would all our garbage and sewage go?" Toris shot back.

Soon both Arthur's tea and Alfred's coffee were done and both men sat on Alfred's couch, chatting about current events. Toris hung back in the corner once more, confused about what he should be doing. After a while he walked up to them and pointed to Alfred's cup. "What's that?" He had never drunk coffee, after all, and wanted to know what the appeal was. If Alfred liked it, surely he would too!

"This? A cup." Arthur nearly choked on his tea.

"No, I meant what's inside the cup."

"You mean the coffee?" Alfred tried again, and in frustration Toris grabbed the cup from him and took a giant gulp of the strong drink. Both Alfred and Arthur stared at him in shock. He had almost drained the cup when he finally wiped his mouth off and gave it back to Alfred. Alfred shot him a look of pure disgust.

"So, can I learn more English today?" He asked Arthur in Latin, who reasked the question in English for Alfred. He simply nodded. Toris happily jumped onto the couch. "Yay! I can't wait!" He started shaking and leaned in really close to Alfred. "What's my first word?"

"You need to sit still first."

"Why can't I sit still?" He quickly got up and started pacing around the room, which eventually escalated into running. Arthur stood in his path and grabbed his shoulders.

"Toris, say caffeine for me." He directed.

"Caffeine." He thought for a moment. "What's caffeine?"

"What's making you shake. Now please sit still!" Arthur pushed him back down on the couch. "Coffee is absolutely loaded with the stuff. It's why Alfred likes it so much, it wakes him up,"

"Yuck, I don't ever want to drink that stuff ever again!" Toris immediately declined. How could anyone find feeling extremely jittery and hyper a good thing?

Arthur pushed him back onto the couch and he obediently sat still. He did take to tapping his foot, however.

"Alright, now we can get started!" Alfred pulled his revolver out of its hosteler and grinned, pointing it straight at Toris. "Now, can you say this? Gun."

Toris started shaking in fear at the sight of it. "Wait, what'd I do?! I don't understand...don't shoot me!" He stammered in a panic. He hid his face in his hands. Alfred giggled.

"No, it's just a gun! G-uuuuu-n!"

"Gun."

"Good!" He put the gun up and Arthur rubbed Toris' shoulders to try and calm him down.

"You have to remember, he lived with Ivan before this..."

"Can't you teach me anything useful though, like how to say I need something? Or commands for work you'll give me?" Toris glared at Alfred slightly.

After translation, Alfred sighed in annoyance. "Fine, let me think." He mimed drinking. "Thirsty."

"Th-th-thirsty..."

"Good! Hmmm..." He thought for a minute. He started squirming around and grabbing his crotch, making a huge show by pretending he had to pee, which made Toris giggle. "Bathroom."

"Bathroom..." Toris repeated. He blinked and looked up at Arthur. "What's a bathroom?" Arthur's face visibly fell.

"A place where you can take baths and it also houses a toilet, which you use to eliminate your waste. Really, did Ivan teach you nothing?" Arthur asked.

Toris shook his head. "We didn't have toilets in the Russian Empire, we just used chamber pots instead and then dumped them out the window!" He smiled as if it was no big deal.

"This is why you poor saps got cholera five separate times."

"Are we done here?" Alfred asked. "Now, you want to know commands for work, right? So, let's think..." His face lit up as he thought of some. "Okay, cook food."

"Cook...?"

"Yeah, like breakfast, lunch, dinner."

"Breakfast...lunch...dinner..."

"Clean windows, scrub floors, do laundry, wash dishes, make bed, clean bathroom..." He waited for Toris' nods to move onto the next word. "I think that's it! Okay, you're all fit to work for me!" He grinned.

"You still haven't told him other expressions he could use, you know. Try telling him some emotion words so he can tell you what he's feeling." Arthur suggested.

"Ugh, fine! Why is he so hard to teach? He's like a show dog!" He sat back down on the couch in frustration. "Okay, ummm, happy!" He pointed to the huge grin on his face.

"Happy!" Toris mimed it.

"Sad, upset." He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes, and Toris did the same. "Good! Angry, mad." He stomped his foot and hoped Toris wouldn't think he was actually mad at him, luckily, he didn't. "Excited. Frustrated. Confused. Sick." For the last one, his mimed throwing up, which made Toris giggle again.

"I believe he's ready for work now." Arthur commented.

"One final thing. Toris, can you spell your name for me?" Alfred asked, and after translation, Toris seemed visibly nervous.

"Ummmm...T-A-U-R-Y-S.." He spelled out, only to be met by Alfred's deeply confused face.

"That's not a name, that's a star sign!" He laughed, almost falling off the couch.

"I think you've mixed up Taurus and Taurys." Arthur said. Toris looked ready to burst into tears again. Alfred finally recomposed himself and sat up straight again, clearing his throat.

"I'm respelling your name. Now, your name is spelled T-O-R-I-S!"

"Why? That's not my name!" Toris protested in Lithuanian. Alfred stared at him in confusion. Toris smiled slightly when he suddenly realized he could say whatever he wanted in his own language and neither of them would be able to understand him. He tucked that idea into the corner of his mind for later use. Alfred stretched.

"You'll need new clothes. We're going out shopping later on. In the meantime, you can...clean the floors." He gestured to them, and Toris nodded in understanding. As soon as he left, Alfred shot Arthur a look.

"What did I do?!"

"You brought him here! That thing will be the end of me!"

"Toris is not a thing, and you haven't been treating him very good. I bet the second I leave you'll force him to live in one of those dreadful tenements!"

"I'm not like that anymore! We were going through an epidemic, and I wasn't about to expose my citizens to it!"

"Explain everyone else then."

"At least he isn't disease-ridden!"

"It's amazing, really, considering his former living conditions." Toris came back with a bucket full of soapy water and started scrubbing the living room floor, which shushed them up.

"How can he carry such a huge thing full of water?" Alfred asked in legitimate curiosity.

"He's not scrawny, you know! If only you knew half the battles he fought in..." Arthur trailed off, and the two watched Toris work while they carefully picked their way through the wet floor.

As Toris worked, his hair kept falling into his eyes, causing him to blow it out. This proved to be quite difficult and time-consuming after a while, so he soon decided to let it hang there. His work slowed much more noticeably after this though.

"He needs a hair tie, his hair is too long." Alfred commented.

"Wow, I never knew you would notice such a thing." Arthur commented with a hint of bitter sarcasm in his voice. Alfred ran upstairs and came back with a stretchy rubber band.

"Toris, come over here!" He commanded with a gesture. Toris dropped the sponge into the bucket and slowly got up, careful not to slip on the water. "It's a hair tie. You can tie your hair back while you work so it doesn't get in your face." He smiled and held it out to him. Toris expressed confusion at such a thing, but after testing the elasticity he caught on pretty quickly and tied his hair back into a tight, short ponytail. With a noticeable spring in his step, he continued working on scrubbing the floors.

"It looks like I might be leaving sooner than I thought! It seems like you've got a pretty good handle on him." Arthur expressed in amazement.

"Why do you always doubt me?" Alfred laughed, making Arthur laugh with him. Soon he was cut short by a tug on his sleeve.

"Excuse me...Mr. Alfred?" Toris asked in a rough, thick accent. Arthur's eyes widened slightly when he realized that the two were the exact same height. He wondered why he never noticed Toris' great height before, especially when he stood next to Ivan.

"Yeah? Ja? However they say it over there?" Alfred answered impatiently.

"You know German?" Toris asked in fast Lithuanian, only to shake his head when Alfred gave him a blank stare. "What I do now?" He asked in broken English that was made worse by his accent.

"Um, how about you work on the windows?" He pointed to them. Toris' face fell, clearly expecting something else, but he nonetheless obeyed and trudged back into the kitchen to refill the water.

"I think he was expecting a payment." Arthur announced.

"What? Why would I pay him?! What makes you think I even want him here in my house?" Alfred snapped.

"He is your responsibility now, him and his economy. You have to pay him for his work, otherwise he'll never get better."

"His economy seems fine."

"Maybe on the surface. Don't you know what happens to nations who suffer economical crashes?"

"Not particularly."

"Figures, it's not like you experienced anything major in your entire life."

"Hey! I had a very upsetting Civil War-!"

"Who hasn't had one of those?" Arthur looked back to Toris, who was currently washing the windows. "Now come on Alfred, give him the money." Alfred angrily pulled out his wallet.

"How much should I give him, like five?"

"ALFRED!"

"Fine, fine, how about fifteen?" He pulled it out.

"That'll do. Come over here Toris, and receive your payment." Arthur summoned, and Toris quickly ran over. Alfred gave him the money in a shaking hand, and Toris' eyes widened when he saw the amount. He quickly got back to work on the windows.

"Hey, how much do you think I could work him for?" Alfred joked, but Arthur gave him an extremely dirty look. "Alright, alright."

##############

Meanwhile, in the world's first communist nation...

Ivan threw two new nations to the floor, one boy and one girl. "I got them, Katia! I got them!~" He happily cheered, like a child who just won a prize in a game. The Ukrainian woman in question ran out of the kitchen, her long blonde hair pulled up into a messy braid.

"Oh no, Ivan..." She trailed off as she watched the Georgian and Turkmen struggle to their feet. Giorgi stood up and just gave Ivan a dirty look before proceeding upstairs. Aynaa, on the other hand, had her veil pulled tightly around her face.

"Who's under there?~" Ivan playfully asked, crouching in front of her and tugging on her veil. She put a stronger grip on it.

"Please, don't take away my veil! I mustn't be exposed!" She cried, but Ivan's strength won out and ripped the thick veil from her face. It revealed a woman with shoulder-long dark wavy brown hair, dark brown eyes, and dark brown skin. A beauty, nonetheless. She started to cry and hid her face in her hands. "Now I can never show my face again! I've been exposed, and to a man no less!" Ivan stood up and smiled at Katia, expecting some sort of praise from her. She instead shook her head in disgust and walked back into the kitchen.

###########

A few days later, Toris had finished cleaning when Alfred beckoned him into the living room, resting his arm on a giant red rectangle with several white dials on it.

"What that?" He asked in his bad English, wincing at his accent.

"A radio! I just got it from my boss! Now we can listen to music and the news!"

"But music...that?" Toris pointed over to the shiny gold record player.

"Yes, but that can only play certain types of music. This can play all kinds!" Alfred grinned and turned one of the knobs, and loud brass music blasted out of the speakers, albeit low-quality, making Toris startle badly. "Whoops, didn't think it'd be that loud!" He chuckled and turned it down slightly, then sat down in front of it. He then patted the floor next to him. "Come on, sit and listen to it!"

"Okay," Toris nodded slowly and sat down, watching Alfred struggle with the dials.

"What kind of music are you into?"

"Uhhhh...waltz?"

"That's a type of dance, not music," Alfred snickered, finally settling on a station. "The news! Always important to know what the world is up to, eh?"

"Some new is bad," He shrugged and winced again. Regardless, he leaned in to listen.

"Germany is still reeling from the damages done to it in the Great War. It's being forced to repay the Allied Powers for all their troubles," The newscaster explained, his voice staticy.

"Hey, he was a pal of yours, right?" Alfred laughed lightly.

"Germany...not friend," Toris pouted. "He mean,"

"You really need to work on your accent," He shook his head just as the phone rang. "Huh, I wonder who that is?" He got up and pulled it off the hook, putting it up to his ear. "Hello?"

Toris switched the radio off.

"Hm, the only thing I heard on the other line was breathing. How strange," Alfred hung the phone up. "The lady must've hooked the wires up wrong," Toris just shrugged in response. "I'm going out to watch a motion picture tonight! Do you think you can take care of the house while I'm gone?"

"Alone?" Toris asked nervously. "I dunno..."

"Come on, it'll be perfectly fine! I'll only be gone for a few hours,"

"Maybe..." He still felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, but Alfred wasn't giving him any chance to say no. "What movie about?"

"Just this new horror movie that everyone is talking about. I bet it's really good, but not really scary. So I'm going to go and see for myself!"

"You horror movies, like?" Toris titled his head in curiosity when Alfred nodded.

"Sure do! They're one of my most favourite movies ever!" He grinned, making Toris smile back.

"I hope you have good time then," He then glanced back at the radio, then went into the kitchen to start making lunch. Alfred got dressed in a dark suit and after checking on Toris, headed out, waving to him. Toris happily waved back, making some coffee and a sandwich. He then sat back down in front of the radio, staring at the dials. He remembered the big one of the left turned it on, and turned that dial, jumping slightly when the news filled the large room again.

He sipped some coffee and slowly flipped through the channels until he found a station that resembled the music Alfred had shown him earlier on the record player, moving his body in time to the music. The dance they had done looked like fun and Toris wanted to learn more about it.

When he finished eating, he put everything in the dustbin and started to move in time with the music again, pretending Alfred was beside him, dancing. He mimicked the basic 'rock-rock' step he remembered Alfred doing, although he soon started waltzing by himself to the music. It was still fun to him and he grinned as he did so, dancing across the length of the living room.

#########

The sun had set relatively early and after Toris made some dinner for Alfred when he came home, he decided to turn in, listening to Alfred gush all about the movie as he ate. He couldn't understand some of the more complex phrases he used, so he was reduced to just smiling and nodding, but he could tell Alfred had fun at the movie. He felt a bit jealous that he wasn't invited, but then decided he wouldn't have been able to understand much anyway.

"Good night," He waved simply to Alfred before putting on his white pair of pajamas and crawling into bed, turning the lamp off. He had closed his eyes and had just started to fall asleep when he was awoken with a loud knock at his door, making him sit up in surprise. "Who there?"

"It's me," Alfred said, slowly walking into the room in his own pajamas. "You remember that horror movie I watched earlier?" He asked, making Toris nod. "It was...a lot scarier than I thought. So I was thinking...we could sleep together tonight? You can say no, of course! It was just a suggestion," He started to leave, but Toris held up his hand.

"I do not mind. For one night," He smiled, and Alfred smiled back and practically lept into the bed next to Toris, glad he had splurged that one time and gotten a giant bed. He laid back down and turned the light off again. He remembered that Arthur had told him Alfred was afraid of the dark and wondered if the horror movie story was just a cover for the truth.

"It's probably strange for you to sleep next to someone like this," Alfred stated, rolling over so he could face Toris.

"Not really. My old friend, Feliks. Me and him slept in the same bed together," He smiled.

"Really? Arthur and I used to sleep in the same bed together when I was a child!" They both giggled, then their expressions soured as they turned away and rolled over on either side, unhappy to be plagued with those memories. Toris wasn't sure what Alfred was thinking about, but he knew thinking about Feliks was a bad idea. Feliks didn't care about him anymore, and thinking about their happy memories together made Toris upset.

At least here he was free from bad influences, Feliks included.

#########

Toris had woken up late the next morning, much to his surprise. He got dressed in a huge rush and went downstairs, finding the American listening to the news on the radio again as he ate breakfast. He seemed shaken up about it.

"Sorry I no make breakfast, I sleep too long," He quickly apologized, assuming that to be the problem.

"You have an ex?" Alfred asked instead, looking at him. "Ivan visited earlier this morning and said he was your ex."

"He's not." Toris said bluntly and went into the kitchen and started to throw dirty dishes into the sink.

"Sure sounded like it."

"I part of his empire. That it. He kicked me out. He had others too." He turned the water in the sink on.

"Do you miss it? The wealth? I mean, you're scrubbing floors on your hands and knees now when you used to rule the world,"

"Sometimes. But I like here too. You're nice," Toris smiled nicely at Alfred as he started the dishes, and Alfred smiled back.

"I'm glad you like me! You're...not as annoying as you were when you first arrived." He then turned to leave. "I'm going to a meeting today, I wonder what I should wear."

"Meeting with who?"

"Oh, just my neighbor below me. So maybe I won't dress all fancy for it," He laughed and left the kitchen to finish eating, and Toris continued doing the dishes, finding his mind wandering to Ivan's random visit. Why would he even take time out of his day to deliver a personal message to Alfred? Was it to scare Alfred? Or scare him? He swore, sometimes he never understood Ivan.

################

Meanwhile, in the world's first communist nation...

"I am back!" Ivan announced happily to his house, but the only person who answered his call was Katia, who ran into the living room.

"Where did you even go?" She questioned. "Have any new nations?"

"No, I think I'm going to cool it on that for a while. Besides, there's still plenty of time to reclaim my old nations. I went to visit Alfred instead," He took his coat off and just threw it to the Georgian man who had walked down the stairs.

"What did you do there?" Katia pressed.

"I heard he recently acquired an old friend of ours and I wanted to make sure he was taking good care of him,"

"So that's where Toris is," She whispered to herself, going back into the kitchen.

"Oh, don't worry, my sister. If you miss him so much, I can get him back! He's on the list, after all!" Ivan reassured her, laughing.

#######

Two years had passed since Toris was first brought to Alfred's house for work, and he had adjusted to an American lifestyle with a great struggle. Still, he wasn't about to quit on his economy and his people and kept telling himself to push through. On this particular morning, he was cooking breakfast for Alfred when he came downstairs with some news.

"I understand your birthday is coming up, right?" Alfred asked, putting on his glasses. Toris happily nodded.

"Well, I got you a present, I think you'll really like it!" He playfully wrapped his arm around Toris' waist and pulled him away from the stove where the eggs were still cooking.

"Stop! Eggs will burn!" Toris cried, and Alfred let him go.

"I'll show you it after breakfast, okay?" Toris nodded and continued cooking. While he was, Alfred made his way over to his telephone and dialed Arthur's number. Instead of getting him, however, he got Michelle. "Michelle? Is that you?"

"Oui, it is me. What did you need?" She asked with a heavy French accent.

"I want to speak to Arthur about something, is he there?"

"Let me check." He heard her scream for Arthur, then the phone being handed to someone else.

"What do you want, Alfred?" Arthur snapped, although Alfred couldn't place why he was so angry.

"I just wanted to tell you about Toris' monthly progress."

"Save it, it's just going to be 'he learned some new words' or something."

"But today's his birthday! I went all out and gave him a present! I'll bet they never had these things in the Russian Empire!" It was possible to hear his grin through the phone.

"Just don't scar the poor thing for life, alright?" Alfred promised, then the two hung up. He looked to his left to see Toris nervously hanging around in the doorway, wanting to ask him something.

"Yes? Aren't your eggs being burnt?"

"My eggs? I take them out of pan. I had question to ask." He started. "We out of milk and bacon, and you cannot have proper breakfast without them! I want to go to market and get some for you!" He offered.

"Toris, you know your English is too weak to go to the market..." Alfred started. Plus if he went outside, he might see his present in the front yard! "How about I come with you? I can even show you your birthday present. "

"That sounds good!" He ran back into the kitchen to turn his stove off. He placed the eggs on a plate and placed them on the table for Alfred, making a simple breakfast of cereal for himself. He sat down and started to eat that as Alfred joined him. "Your attic cleaning, you do that today?"

"Oh right, I nearly forgot. I guess I might as well get that done tonight. Aside from taking you to the market, I don't have anything else to do," He started eating as Toris smiled.

"Need help?"

"No, I can handle it on my own,"

Once they finished eating, Alfred led Toris into the front yard with his eyes covered. "Okay, now to reveal your present!" He uncovered Toris' eyes and watched as they widened in awe, surprise, and shock. Standing in the street was an inky black automobile.

"Oh, Mr. Alfred, it amazing!" He ran to it and ran his hands over it. "What is it?" Alfred's face fell visibly.

"You-you don't know? You seriously have no idea?" Toris shook his head. Alfred sighed. "It's an automobile, and the latest model too. Can you say that? Automobile."

"Audiomobilie." He tried.

"Close enough. You never had these things back in Russia? You never even saw pictures of them?"

"No, I'm afraid not, Mr. Alfred."

"Well you are in for a treat then!" Alfred grabbed Toris' arm and pulled him right up into the passenger's seat next to him. He started up the automobile. "Here we go!" He drove out of the driveway at an impossible speed, only getting faster once they were actually on the road. "Isn't this fun?" Alfred asked, smiling. Toris tightly grasped Alfred's arm in terror.

"Please, please, stop!" He was begging with tears in his eyes. "Too fast!" He suddenly turned green and his hands flew to his mouth. Alfred honored his wishes and pulled over to the side of the road. After all, he didn't want puke in his new car.

"Are you okay? You don't look very good..." Toris had stood up out of the car and looked down at the street below while wobbling. He covered his mouth again, only to give up and hurl brown chunky vomit all over the street. He breathed heavily and wiped his mouth off. "There was some water right over here, you know..." Alfred offered. Toris looked back at him with a bit of a glare. "Never mind. Well, here we are in town, so let's go get what we need from the market."

Alfred waited for Toris to get out of the automobile first, and he did so while shaking, trying his best to stir clear of the pool of vomit on the street. Alfred jumped out of the vehicle as well and walked with him to the market.

Soon they had arrived there, and Toris' eyes lit up in wonder. Although he would never admit it, he loved being in the market because of how much it reminded him of being in the Russian Empire. He would often go out to the market to get food for Ivan's many feasts with Feliks, and the two would continuously laugh and joke along the way. What ever did happen to events like that, anyway? Alfred had started walking ahead of Toris, forcing him to catch up.

"Now what was it that you said you needed?" Alfred asked, looking at some fruit stalls.

"Bacon and milk," Toris restated.

"I don't know if you'll find any milk here, but it can't hurt to look around." The two split up in opposite directions to look for them, although Toris wondered why. Didn't Alfred say his English was too weak to properly buy things? He decided he would risk it anyway. Plus he couldn't even find Alfred anymore. He nervously looked at the stalls, happy to take in the smells and sights of many of the food there. While he was admiring some cheese, a young girl walked up to him in a violet dress and matching hat.

"Sir, you like my family cheese?" She asked in broken English. Toris realized she was Eastern European like him, only she was a Russian girl.

"It looks delicious." He smiled at her.

"It is, it is! I no can have any when parents make, though. They say I steal from costumers when I try to eat." An angry voice suddenly pierced the air, and the girl looked behind her in fright. "Sorry, I go now. Mother angry at me. Goodbye!" She ran away, clutching at her hat.

Toris smiled after her, wondering if her cheese was really as good as she claimed. He continued walking until he came across a butcher's stand, advertising the local store in town.

"Want any meat?" The owner asked crossly, staring Toris down. He nodded and looked at the selections, unable to read some of them.

"Bacon?" He tried, and the man cut some down from the ceiling. Toris held out his hands for the meat, but the man held it away from him.

"Not until you pay me. I am so tired of these lousy immigrants coming into my store and taking my meat, insisting they're good for it. They're not good for nothin'," He ranted, making Toris frown.

Alfred finally caught up and smiled. "There you are, Toris! Did you find any bacon?" He asked cheerfully, and the butcher's entire demeanor changed.

"Alfred! One of my most favourite customers! You come back for some more bacon?" He placed it in a box and handed it to Alfred. "It's on the house for one of my most prized customers!"

Toris frowned even more, but Alfred just laughed. "Thanks dude! Come on, let's go find some milk," He nudged Toris along, who just followed him numbly. "Something wrong?"

"That man no like me...because I come from somewhere else," He winced.

"It's not hard to tell, your accent is still awful," Alfred looked around at the various stands, looking for one selling milk. "But you still sound better than most people,"

"No milk here." Toris said instead, unable to find any. "It too cold out,"

"Wouldn't more people want to buy milk then?" Alfred wondered, but still shrugged. "We can just get some later!" He walked back to the car, placing the bacon in the back and sitting inside. "Get in!"

"Oh." Toris winced slightly, thinking of the last ride they took. Alfred seemed to remember as well, since his expression changed.

"I'll go really slow," He promised, and Toris gingerly lowered himself into the passenger seat, tightly gripping onto the dashboard once the car actually started up. Just as he promised, Alfred drove really slowly back to the house, parking the car in the front yard. He got out and went back into the house, leaving Toris to bring in the bacon and place it in the icebox.

"I guess I should get started on cleaning out the attic," Alfred said simply. He went upstairs, leaving Toris by himself.

"I hope it fun!" He called after him, tying his hair up in a ponytail and getting started on his daily cleaning. He did the dishes and scrubbed the floors, not noticing how much time had passed until Alfred came back downstairs. "Was it fun?"

"It made me remember a lot of stuff," He responded quietly, going outside into the garden. Toris stared after him and poured him some coffee he had made earlier, going outside to sit next to him.

"Good things?" He offered the cup to Alfred, who took it and started drinking it.

"No. But it doesn't really matter, it's all in the past now,"

"You very grown-up," Toris noticed, sitting down next to him and sipping his own cup.

"You really think so?" Alfred stared at him, and Toris nodded.

"I think so. You are like child sometimes, but othertimes...you like adult. I like those the best."

"Thanks for that. That...means a lot," He said in surprise, looking out across the garden.

"You are welcome," Toris beamed.

##############

"Toris, come sit over here." Alfred directed, coughing lightly.

"What is it, Mr. Alfred?" Toris asked eagerly, wearing a ribbon of silk in his hair. "Did something good happen?"

"No." Alfred continued to cough, even harder than before. Toris' eyes clouded over in worry. "Sit down." He ordered, and he nodded and quickly sat down across from him. "You have lived with me for a while now. A few years. They were some great years, don't get me wrong. But," He started coughing again. "I'm sending you back home. I...can't afford to take care of you anymore,"

"Mr. Alfred!" Toris gasped in surprise. "You can't send me back! Europe right now...is too turbulent. I'll get eaten alive!"

"You think I don't know that? Look, if I could afford to keep you longer, I would. You've gotten soft, Toris. Too soft. But you just can't be here anymore. Your economy has been taken care of, so you can go home to that, at least."

"You've become really sick though...I can't just leave you alone here,"

"I'll have people to take care of me." Alfred waved Toris away, motioning to his bags he already packed. "And you won't be going away alone either!"

"Huh?" Toris asked in confusion before he suddenly became aware of a dark aura filling the room. He shivered.

"Toris! It's so nice to see you again! I was getting worried with how far apart you were from the rest of us, but now we can be together again!" Ivan said happily, putting his hands on Toris' shoulders.

"See? Ivan promised to take very good take care of you on your way home!" Alfred smiled, sneezing into a tissue. Ivan hoisted Toris onto his shoulder, placing his hand on his back.

"Still as heavy as ever, Toris. I guess Alfred was feeding you well!~"

"But I don't want to go to Europe with you! I want to stay here with Mr. Alfred!" Toris declined, squirming around.

"Oh, and Toris!" Alfred called. "You can still visit me anytime you want." He smiled at Toris, making him smile back weakly.

"I'll take you up on that offer. I would love to visit you again!" He beamed, right before Ivan walked outside and shut the door, placing Toris on the ground.

"You will have so much fun in Europe, I promise! So much has happened since you left!" Ivan eagerly clasped his hands together, handing Toris his bag. Toris kept glaring at him. "Silk in your hair? Alfred really was taking care of you." He walked ahead of Toris. "Well, come on! No point in making everyone else wait. I would love to tell you about this new idea I have called the Soviet Union. It has some kinks in it, but overall I think it's much better than the Russian Empire!"

Toris reluctantly followed after Ivan, only half-listening to him. As he walked away, he heard one of his favourite jazz songs being played through an open window on a record player. He briefly glanced up at the house and smiled to himself.

"Come on, Toris! The train is about to leave!" Ivan scolded Toris, and Toris rolled his eyes discreetly and tightened his grip on his bag, running over to Ivan. On his lips were the lyrics to the song, being hummed in perfect sync to the record player. They remained on his lips for the remainder of the trip back to Europe, his only reminder that his time with Alfred even happened.


End file.
